Machine



H. T. BALLARD.

APPL AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 5,

Patented Feb. M, 1922.

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H.. T. BALLARD. K'NITTING MACHINE'.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 15, 1920.

194Q6253, Pntedneb. 14, 1922.

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UNITED STATES maar T. suman, or NoamsrowN, rENNsYLvAmA.

IN'ITTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. 3;,\,1;enfed Feb, 14, 1922.

Application lcd January 15, 1920. Serial No. 351,701.

`a subject of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Norristown, county of Montgomery, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knitting Machines, ofwhich the following is a specifica-tion.

The invention relates to a new fabric and to the method and means for making the same. The invention is carried' out on a rib knitting machine with 'multiple feeds. Changes :are made in the stitch, say from plainy to-tuck, andfrom tuck to plain, and theseI changes are made to advance in position around the fabric in one direction at one feed as the courses are knit at this feed, whereas at another feed, and consequently in different courses, the said changes are made to lag and thus these changes take place spirally around the fabric, one change making the spiral advan e incertain courses from Wale to Wale or gro ps of wales, while the other changes make the spiral lag in the other courses and from wale to wale or groups of wales.

In the drawings,

` Figure l is a front view, developed, of a number of feeds, including my improved mechanism. i

Fig. 2 is a side view of the mechanism shown at the right of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3' is a `plan view in the nature of a diagram.

Fig. 4 is a conventional front view of the fabric produced by the organization shown in Figs. 1 to 3.

In these drawings l indicates the cylinder and 2 the dial of a rib Aknitting machine.

I have shown ordinary feeds at A, B and my special feeds at C, D.

At each of these feeds there is a thread guide 3 of ordinary form.

At feed C I mount a toothed wheel 4, the teeth of which meshwith the needle stems and the wheel is therefore rotated. Say the cylinder has 324 needles, I make the number of teeth in the wheel 4 such that it is not an enact divisor of the number of needles in thecylinder. For instance, the number of teeth in the wheel is 65. This will not divide exactly into the whole number of needles in the cylinder, but on the contrary, there will be one needle less than the number required to make the number of needles a multiple of the number of teeth and thusv for each revolution of the needle cylinder the revolution of the toothed wheel 4 will not synchronize therewith, in the sense that the revolutions will start on the same needle, but as in the case just mentioned, where there is one needle less than the number necessary to make a complete revolution of the wheel, said wheel will lag in respect to the revolution of the needle cylinder. This wheel carries cams c, c in the form of segments standing up from the surface of the wheel. These cams alternate with intervening spaces c2 so that the cam path is divided into four segments, two high portions, c, c', alternating with two Vlow portionscz. These cams operate to change the stitch from plain to tuck and from tuck to plain and for this purpose a rod 5 rests on the cam path, it being guided vertically by a block or bracket 6. The upper end of this lrod is designed to operate a lever 7 pivotally mounted at 8 to the yarn guide bracket and having a link 9 extending through post 10 extending through a slot 11 in the dial cap and connected at its lower end with the ordinary wing cam of the dial set, this being the cam which, in ordinary practice, projects the needle to take the new yarn.

When the rod 5 is lifted the wing cam will be retired so that the needles will be projected only far enough to take the new yarn without causing the latches to shed the loops to a point back of them and hence tuck stitches will be formed on these needles.

When the lowy part of the cam comes under the rod 5 the latter will fall and the wing cam will be drawn forward by the spring 12 and the needles will be advanced to knit. Y

These changes as above stated will lag in respect to the revolutions of the cylinder, in the present instance, one needle at a time, though Ido not limit myself inthis particular.

At the feed D, however, the wheel 4 is provided with 46 teeth to engage the needles and as this number divides into 324 unevenly, there being two needles over in the remainder, it follows that the wheel .4 will be advanced a distance of two needles-at each revolution of the cylinder and hence the changes consequent upon the operation of this feed will be out of time with any given wale and may be said to advance in respect thereto.v This wheel 4 is provided with a single cam d extending over an angle occupied by 23 needles, it being onehalf of the'circuit of the wheel. This cam operates upon a rod 5, which in turn operates a lever 7 having a connection similar to that described above, tothe post 10 of a wing cam.

Inthe present drawing I show two plain feeds at A, B which merely knit in the ordinary manner by casting off what loops there are on the needles and draw new loops. These feeds alternate with the special feeds above described. At this special. feed D when the rod 5f is lowered consequent upon the low part of the cam coming under 1t, ordinary knitting is done here.

The fabric produced by the above organization is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4, from which it will befseen that a .diagonal or spiral striped formation is produced with the stripes running in opposite directions, and diamond shaped formations at the intersecting points, this result being due to the lead and lag of the changes in the. stitch and to the fact that the fabric at one feed is modified by the intermediate courses knit at the next feed.

By using different colored yarns at the different feeds the changes in the fabricv are made pronounced in appearance.

'The difference in the character of the' stitches will also have the effect of distorting the courses and wales from straight lines and they will have the zig-zag structure shown.

By using three feeds the wheel with sixtyiive teeth would be used, also the forty-six toothed wheel, and the feed B. The feed A would be omitted.

This organization will give one diamond block of the fabric structure in which the order of knitting in the courses would be one tuck, one knit, and one tuck. Thepsecond block would be made up of one tuck, one tuck and one knit and the third block would have one course knit, one knit, one 21 knit.

With the four-feed organization the order of the courses would be as follows: One block would have course one tuck, one knit, one tuck, and one knit.

The second block would be one tuck, one knit, one knit and one knit.

The third block would have all the courses of ordinary knit stitch.

The (i5-tooth wheel makes approximately five revolutions to each course. As it has two cams it will knit 10 spaced apart plain portions in each course because the preceding feed B is a plain feed.

Between these plain knit portions, the needles will take on a second loop and these will be cast at feed A so that at this feed the tuck wales will be completed in the same course. This would give a diagonal tuck stripe and a plain knit stripe alternating but running diagonally one way if only these two feeds were used.

At the next feed D at which the smaller` The machine has 324 needles as above stated. The wheel at feed C has 65 teeth. It has two cams and .as the number of. needles is not a multiple of the number of teeth, the wheel changes its position with respect to the needle cylinder at each revolution of the latter, so that it will not start its series of revolutions per revolution of the cylinder on the same needle but on the contrary, on the next needle.

This wheel may be said to lag in respect to the revolutions of the cylinder, therebeingone needle 'lacking in the cylinder, of a suiciency to make its five revolutions even with those of the cylinder. We will follow the action of one needle through 33 courses of knitting, i. e. through the changes that the wheel at C goes through before repeating, it being obvious that with two cams its action repeats itself after 33 courses.

Course. Feed. Stitch. Feed. Stitch. Feed. Stitch. Feed. Stitch Y C Knit A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Knit A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Knit A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Knit A Knit l D Tuck B Knit C Knit A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Knit A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Knit A Knit D Tuck 'B Knit C Knit A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit 14. C Knit A Knit D Knit B. Knit 15... C Knit A Knit D Knit B l Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Knit B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Knit B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit 28 C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit 29 C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit 30... C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit 31. C Tuck A Knit D Tuck B Knit 32... C Tuck A Knit D y Knit B Knit 33. C Knit A Knit D Knit B Knit I do not limit myself to the combination of feeds and the employment of the two special feeds and controlling means, such as both of the toothed wheels 4, 4 in the same machine. The drawings and description are illustrative of my invention and are not to be considered in a restricting or limiting sense, the scope of the invention in both its broader and particular aspects being defined by the appended claims. The fabric is the i prising a toothed wheel at each of said feeds subject of another application .Serial No. 502,678, filed Sept 23, 1921.

I claim: f

1. A rib knitting machine having at each' of two feeds means for making tuck and plain fabric, and having a plain feed, controlling means at each of the two feeds first mentioned with means. for operating them to make alternately in each course a series of tuck stitches and a series of plain rib stitches! to form bands so that one of said means will advance in its operation in successive courses in respect to the wales of stitches and the otherwill lag in its opera tion in successive courses in respect to the walesof stitches whereby the changes in the stitches at one feed will advance in one direc tion around the fabric and the changes at the other feed will lag in the opposite direction around the fabric, and diamond shapes will be formed where two spiral bands cross, substantially as describe 2. A rib knitting machine comprising two feeds with means at each feed for changing from plain to tuck and from tuck to plain stitches on the dial needles, a plain feed, and controlling means at each of the two feeds first mentioned for timing the changes to produce bands advancing around the fabric in successive courses in one direction at one feed and lagging in successive courses in the other direction at the other feed, the changes in the fabric structure thus occurring along spiral lines about the fabric, said bands cross'- ing each other to form diamond blocks, substantially as described.

3. A rib knitting machine comprising two feeds with means at each feed for changing from plain .to tuck stitches yand from tuck to plain stitches, and controlling means comdriven from the machine, one advancing as to the beginning of its revolutions in respect j to the revolutions ofthe machine and. the other lagging in its revolutions in respect to the revolutions of the machine and connections .to the wing cams operated bythe said wheels, substantially as described. v

4. A rib knitting machine comprising two feeds with means at each feed for changing from plain to tuckstitches and from tuck to plain stitches, and controlling means comprising a toothed wheel at eachof saidfeeds driven from the machine, oneadvancing as to the beginning of'its revolution in respect to the revolutionsI of the machine and the i' other laggingvin its revolutions in respect to the revolutions of the machine and connections to the wing cams operated by the said `wheels, said toothed wheels meshing with the stems of the cylinder needles to be rotated therefrom, substantiall as described.

5. In combination with a r1b knitting machine, a yarn feed, means for changing the inder needles to receive rotation'therefrom.

6. In combination with a rib knitting machine, a dial wing cam, a toothed wheel driven from the machine, a cam on lthe wheel, a rod operated by the cam, a `bell crank lever, a link operated thereby and reaching over the dial and a post extending up from the wing cam and to which the link is connected. y In testimony whereof, I aix my slgnature.

HERBERT T. BALLARD. 

